WASHINGTON — As a former bartender and current tipped worker, Trupti Patel knows that customers tend to get grabby when there is alcohol involved.
After working in the food service industry for more than a decade, she is accustomed to dealing with drunk customers who get out of hand, especially if they become belligerent or make lewd comments. But the District of Columbia resident finds it disturbing to think of teens trying to handle the same situation.
“It’s one thing if a drunk patron wants to scream and yell at me and wants their way. I’m 45, you can scream at me all you want. I’m not scared of you,” she said in an interview with States Newsroom. “But you’re going to scream and yell at a 14-year-old, a 15-year-old, a 16-year-old? They’re not going to handle it the same way.”
Patel is not the only one concerned about a growing trend among states to propose and enact legislation allowing teens — as young as 14 — to serve alcohol in restaurants, among laws rolling back other child labor limits. She’s joined by labor organizers and legal experts, who worry that the easing of these restrictions can increase a teen’s risk of exposure to sexual harassment, especially in an industry where it’s pervasive.
It’s a development that has been lobbied for in the states by the restaurant industry, which argues the laws are needed to help fill a labor shortage. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data complied by Federal Reserve Economic Data, there are more than 1.3 million...
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